Marcus Pomeroy-Rowden  is our inspiring Skipper. Marcus is responsible for all our safety and well being while on board. He is a skilled carpenter and knows every inch of The Grayhound Lugger after two years of building. Previous to this project Marcus has twenty years of skippering experience and living on board boats. He grew up on the River Dart sailed from a young age. He worked as a fabricator in his twenties and owned a 40ft cruising boat which he sailed around Western Europe, surfing along the way. For the last fifteen years he has worked as a skipper delivering Sadler Yachts and teaching sailing skills to owners who want to become more competent. Being a West Country man he aspired to build a traditional vessel one day and in his early thirties he did. Marcus finished building Veracity a replica  32′ Cornish Fishing Lugger in 2004 and has since sailed her around the Atlantic. For years he sailed her engine less using her sweeps to skull into a harbour. With all this experience behind him and now in his forties we see Marcus as a true seaman. He is passionate about teaching our two trainees the valuable maritime skills that are getting lost and dumbed down in today’s ‘zero to hero’ sailing academies. More then anything Marcus loves being at sea and taking people sailing.  Skippering Grayhound for him is about teaching the old skills and opening up sailing to a larger and more varied audience.

Freya Hart is the cook aboard. Freya has chosen this role because she loves to cook and host and be in charge of the domestics and victualing. She and Marcus know working on board as a couple can be challenging and believe that the Skipper and Cook roles can have a very harmonious working relationship. Freya aged thirty is a competent sailor in her own right, she is a Ocean Yachtmaster and has previously worked in Sail Training and Charter on traditional vessels. She has also sailed to the Med and around the Atlantic on a 33′ steel cruiser in 2008 on her personal travels. She and Marcus as parents jointly share and enjoy the responsibility for Malachi. Freya is always a busy lady in the galley but Grayhound is not a five star hotel, it is a family home so expect family meals around the table. As a family we love to be healthy and eat very well, catching fish while sailing and eating alfresco on the BBQ is a regular meal. Freya likes to cook with fresh local ingredients and is heavily influenced by Mediterranean, Indian and good old English style cookery, with the emphasis being on the ingredients that are to hand in the country that we are in. Freya likes to cook a mixture of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes. Voyage crew are encouraged to get stuck in whether it be helping with fishing, veg prep or being part of the bread making rota on a offshore passage.

Charlie Vening was brought up in Millbrook where Grayhound was built. He studied Marine Conservation at Plymouth Uni and then worked at Plymouth National Marine Aquarium as a Diver and Biologist. His conservation work has taken him to the Seychelles,  to Mexico and beyond. Charlie is a very level headed twenty four year old searching for a new career in the marine industry. He is undertaking our training program and wants to learn all he can in his year aboard before entering the sailing industry. Charlie is a valued member of the team and will be Deckhand on board Grayhound for the next year. Being a hardened traveler with a conscientious nature he is ideal for our diverse training on board. Charlie is a Dive Master and can free dive to 22 metres. We hope we too can learn lots from Charlie about the diversity that the sea holds.

Malachi Pomeroy-Rowden is the youngest member of crew. Malachi was born in the summer of 2011, his due date was on race day at Looe Luggers Regatta, with the safety boats ready to take a very pregnant Freya ashore Malachi held on and was born a week later in Plymouth. Since his arrival he has mainly being surrounded by shipwrights and machinery  We as his parents are very much looking forward to showing him the world afloat and sharing our travels with him. He has a lovely temperament and we hope you will enjoy his company. He is very used to being around lots of people and fitting in with things. He has a beautiful cabin on board, Grayhound is very much his home and where he feels safe.